Saturday, September 22, 2012

Being poor ...

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is having to keep buying $800 cars because they’re what you can afford, and then having the cars break down on you, because there’s not an $800 car in America that’s worth a damn.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is knowing your kid goes to friends’ houses but never has friends over to yours.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is living next to the freeway.

Being poor is coming back to the car with your children in the back seat, clutching that box of Raisin Bran you just bought and trying to think of a way to make the kids understand that the box has to last.

Gordon, I find I must disagree with you. Poor is working a full-time job and possibly a second, part-time job and still coming up short of money before pay day - more like what is described in Fixer's post.

Having a 50 inch flat screen tv, no work history to speak of, and frequenting the Social Services office, food banks, etc. is worthless or stupid or both.

Poor is trying like hell but knowing deep down that you can never save the money for a down payment on a house so you're stuck renting.

In my own little mind I make a serious and clear distinction between "no account" (a fine old Southern term) and the working poor. From my perspective, and I might be wrong, the deck is stacked against the working poor but sort of favors the no account.

And no, I don't think Romney has a clue nor do I think he's ever given it any thought.

My sister used to work in one of my hometown's taverns. One of her friends, out of work from the lumber mill, won a plasma TV on one of the pulltab games. He took it home.

He's out of work and getting gov't aid. Now, he could sell it and may still but despite all of the pain and anguish he and his family go through, that TV represents one part of the American Dream that is all theirs.

I don't begrudge people of limited means getting something special once in a while. When you have nothing, getting something special reminds you that there may be a way out of the hole. Circumstances may not allow a lot of those things but I believe that every person deserves something special once in their life. Repugs think that if you get gov't help, then they and only they, can tell you what shit you can have and what shit you can get. They always piss and moan about someone on welfare eating a steak or buying an XBox. These bastards have never been poor.

Fuck them.

One day, the table will turn and some of those racist assholes may need to Craig's List some of their shit. It would be interesting to see if they would get rid of it all or keep some of the good stuff.

I agree with you regarding the guy's flat screen and circumstances. I agree that everyone, regardless of finances, deserves at least one thing that is not bare bones necessity. I'm sympathetic to people with children who buy something for their kids that they really cannot afford but that is desperately important to the kid(s). I too would have kept the flat screen that I won. Please notice that I specified "no work history to speak of."

Maybe I just know too many no account people who cannot be forced to work even when jobs are plentiful. :(

I still would like to see more benefits accrue to those who worked hard for 40+ years but I certainly don't know how that could be accomplished. I could spend several hours in conversation about what I see on a daily basis and the difficulties I perceive. Unfortunately, I cannot believe that the tables ever turn on those who have it all and resent the others for having food and shelter, not to mention medical care.

Poor-ish would certainly describe my financial state but I'm kept from being actually poor because I own my land and home, I live in a beautiful part of the country that truly does restore one's soul, and I am rich in family and some excellent neighbors. I've often wondered about the soul killing ugliness that surrounds the working poor in urban areas.

I'm a lucky fucker. I live paycheck to paycheck driving a car that ain't worth much more than the tires it sits on. (the tires are new, a set of barely used Pirelli's for $300!) I owe over $5000 in medical bills and live in a one bedroom apt that gets little sun.

But I can still walk, breath and eat. I pay enough of my bills to keep the sheriff from throwing me out on my ass. I got cable so I can bestow my words of wisdom upon the masses but ditched the TV. I have a bevy of decent folks who call me friend both online and off. At times, I can get a bit of herb to keep the bullshit from rotting my soul.

I'm a damn lucky man!

There are a lot of fuckers out there worse off than me, mostly due to shit they couldn't control. That chaps my hide. This country is better than that.

Jay, I understand what you wrote. No stress from me, I think your correct too.

What makes me seethe down to the core is the self-satisfied smirking piss-on-the-middle-class attitude the Repugs exude at every opportunity. They make me weep for the future of the country I have spent my life serving (armed forces and work force).

The class war is coming. I can't say if it'll get stupid but we're seeing society start to fray at the edges. The Nights of Fires are coming if we allow Rmoney and his cronies get into power.

Gordon

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"... That's US here at the Brain! Sittin' all alone out in the cold, thanklessly freezin' our beboops off, lookin' for a chance to lob a few at the enemy and praying for a secondary explosion, wonderin' if it's all worth it or if it will make any difference in the scheme of things ..." - Gordon